Epilogue: A Novel Idea
by lulutree
Summary: Same concept as the series finale of the 90s sitcom Roseanne. This is the final chapter of a book written by Rita Loud about the day to day adventures of her eleven children. One shot.


_"_ _In a family this big..."_

That was something Lincoln said all the time to us. My one and only son was the middle child of eleven children.

Our first child is beautiful Lori. Our second child is stylish Leni. The third child is rock star Luna. The fourth is our joker Luan. Fifth is the athletic Lynn Jr (after her father, Lynn Sr.). Lincoln took the sixth child spot. Seventh is gothic Lucy. Eighth and ninth are the twins, rolly-polly Lana and beauty queen Lola. The tenth spot is genius Lisa. Our youngest is the nudist Lily.

Well, that's how they were as children. We just took Lily out for dinner to celebrate her high school graduation. Lori is a dentist now, married to Bobby Santiago and has three boys. Leni lives in New York City designing clothes. Luna is currently on a world tour with her metal band, Chain Links. After a decade of hard work, they finally made it big and got a platinum album three years ago. They have been doing well ever since, even if Luna has had a couple stints in rehab for her drinking and heroin use.

Luan is in L.A. currently writing for three TV sitcoms. She got married a few years back and has a daughter. Lynn Jr. is the goalie for the US women's soccer team, but is planning on retiring in two years. She is married and plans on having a couple kids after she retires. Lucy is a licensed mortician, poet and artist.

Lana got a degree in business and attended a vocational school to become a plumber. My husband and I just loaned her money to purchase her first work truck and tool set essentials. She already has several clients. Lola is currently attending to her duties as Miss Universe. I never had a doubt as to what she would do with her life. Lisa is a nuclear physicist and robotics expert for NASA. I never had any doubts as to where she would end up either.

Lily is set to begin college in the fall.

I am so proud of all my children and love them dearly.

As you might have noticed, I didn't say anything about my little boy, Lincoln. I've put off mentioning him until now. All these years later, it still tears my heart apart when a thought of him pops into my head. I have managed to get to the point that I can laugh and enjoy life again, but there is nothing that will ever dull the pain.

The fresh pain I feel when I think of my little boy that will be forever a child.

Just two months after Lincoln's twelfth birthday, he began to experience headaches. Everyone gets headaches from time to time, so we didn't think much of it at first. It didn't take long before they became more and more painful and occurred more and more often. He began vomiting and having visual disturbances like seeing double and flashes of light.

At that point we took him to the doctor. They put him through a battery of tests and diagnosed him with a brain tumor. It was located in the back portion of his brain, the occipital lobe they called it. It was deemed as being operable so we were sent to the nearest children's hospital where doctors did the surgery the next week.

They were able to remove it and we set to caring for Lincoln while he recovered in the hospital. We felt relieved. All ten of my girls set to keeping him entertained. We nearly got thrown out multiple times by nurses. Most of the other kids there loved the girls' visits. While one was with Lincoln, the others would be hanging out with the other children.

We thought it was over. But we were wrong.

The hospital had the tumor tested to ascertain what type it was. Lincoln was set to be discharged only a few days after the results came back and a dour doctor came in to speak with us. It was a malignant ependymoma. She also informed us that even though the tumor removed from his brain was small, it most likely had spread cancer cells all throughout his body.

I don't remember what happened for some time after that. My husband told me that I fainted and once I was conscious again, I wouldn't respond to anyone for hours afterward. Eventually, they said, I walked out of the consultation room and to Lincoln's room where I curled up in his bed. I woke up there with Lincoln snoring, curled up against me.

Being an optimistic child, or possibly just not truly understanding the situation, Lincoln took the news of his cancer much better than I. He was very interested as the doctor showed him the CAT scan of his head, begging her to make a copy for him to take home and frame.

We laid out his treatment plan that evening and started his chemotherapy the next day.

For the next year, he fought. He fought so hard. He so wanted to live. Through it all, he remained positive.

Even as he lost his hair and lost a third of his weight. Got sick from the chemo and radiation treatments. When he was told that the tumor had returned in his brain and had spread to his spinal cord. He was always so positive.

He passed away in the hospital just four days after his thirteenth birthday. His gifts and birthday decorations were still around him in his room.

I'll always remember him as the smart, funny, energetic, patient and giving child he truly was.

I was not good for anything for a long time after he died. I fell into so deep a depression I felt like I was literally drowning at the bottom of an ice cold lake. The medications I was on barely seemed to help. The only thing that helped was my daughters sharing their memories of Lincoln with me.

That was where I got the idea for this book. A book about the day to day adventures of an eleven year old boy and his ten sisters.

I have always wanted to be a writer. I once had an idea to write a story about the goldfish that lived at the dentist office where I worked as a dental hygienist.

One day, I brought Lincoln with me. He was upset about not being able to go with his sisters to his father's workplace for 'Bring Your Daughter to Work Day.' Lincoln being Lincoln, he somehow lost my notebook that I had written down all my story ideas in. He had chased it all over town according to his account, but it had been destroyed in the end.

I scrapped my idea of a story about the goldfish for one about a white haired daredevil at that point. Lincoln's account of the notebook chase of course made it into my book. I hope it was as enjoyable to read about as it was to hear it told from the source.

I started this book years ago, working on it off and on when I had the time, or the energy. It was phenomenal therapy for me. It was if Lincoln was still with me, still telling me his daily stories. He loved to tell stories and I always believed he would be a writer. It was a natural choice to have him as a narrator of his and his sister's adventures.

I miss Lincoln every day still. I know I always will. I will always be listening for his mad dash to the bathroom every morning. The sound of his sisters yelling at him for reading his comic's in his underwear in the living room. The sound of his laugh…

Still, I wouldn't change my life for anything. Because…

…In a family this big…you have a lot of love to go around and many, many good memories.


End file.
